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Date        : 2006/08/03 04:05

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====== The Tale of Lord Butakis - The Lost Stars of the Lake 
======

This story begins nearly four thousand years ago, when Kadriosa IV, King o
f Scorn, invaded the southern territories and pushed back the elven barbar
ians that lived there.

The elvish people fled, and many of them settled in a place they called Vk
ovzerov, "The Country of the Three Waters", as it was a rather unique meet
ing point between a river, a lake, and the sea. There they enjoyed a great
 prosperity, working with the local sprites to build Tashkeren-tah, The Ci
ty of the Wooden Towers.

Two centuries passed, then three. The elven princes of Tashkeren-tah had b
ecome powerful - and never in their hearts was the thirst of revenge and h
atred towards the people of Scorn extinguished. Now very familiar with the
 various water creatures that inhabited their territory, they had develope
d great skills in commanding rivers, and the beasts inside them, and the c
reatures made from them. They knew that Scorn was highly dependent on its 
seaport, and they had planned for the many years their long life gave them
 to use the great power of water spirits to crush and flood the city.

But despite all their accumulated knowledge, their powers were too limited
 to direct the most powerful entities of the seas, the Mouthes of the Mari
ner, none other than the Greater Aquomons.

For a long time, they were hesitant to call those, as they were dangerous,
 treacherous creatures born during the darkest ages of the world, when Hae
mdel the Legendary was crushed and the Three Artifacts lost. But so strong
 was their flame of hatred that it soon burned the ropes of their carefuln
ess. Using their most powerful summoning spell, they convocated one of the
 Greater Aquomons before them.

"Who are you, you creatures with pointy ears, to dare awaken me from my dr
eams, me, Vërno, the Fourth Drop ?"

Elven Princes exposed what they wanted to Vërno, and the creature see
med very interested at the idea of grabbing all the richesses of Scorn, an
d bringing them back into his dark kingdom of the depth of the sea.

"Very well, said Vërno, but you know, I suppose, that we are all boun
d by the Law of Equilibrium, established by the gods themselves when the w
orld was new and the seas infinite. And for my services, you'll have to pa
y the price."

- And what do you want for a price ?

- Well, my needs are rather modest. I'll only claim a tenth of your own la
nds as a reward."

The Elven Princes quickly discussed the matter, and came to the conclusion
 that it was a rather fair price to pay - after all, their territories wer
en't very large, and there was a lot of empty space all around, so it wasn
't really a problem for them. Maybe it would for a couple of peasants, but
 who cared about them more than of the vengeance against Scorn ?

And so they answered: "The Fate of Scorn is Sealed, then. We accept."

What happened then is too long to tell in details here, as it belongs to a
nother story. In short, Jovidjevska the elven girl, who had heard everythi
ng, travelled to Scorn, and convinced the city wizards of the truth of the
 menace. And when Vërno came to crush the city, they moved it two day
s into the future, and the water hand of the Fourth Drop grabbed only empt
iness.

Vërno, furious, came back to the Elves with a big smile, and told the
m: "I did what you wanted, and flooded the territory on which Scorn was es
tablished. Now I take my due price."

And that said, he selected the area on which the Elven City itself was bui
lt, and covered it with water, its inhabitants trapped  and killed there w
ithout understanding what was happening.

Two thousand years passed. The lineage of the kings of Scorn died, and ano
ther dynasty came, and another one after that. Wars were conducted. Wizard
s of Scorn fled, and most of the knowledge disappeared, and there were not
hing but lakes and forests above the dead city of the elves.

And then, a man came. Where did he come from ? Nobody knows for sure. Buta
kis was his name.

Butakis was an ambitious young man. He had heard here and there strange pi
eces of a weird story, about a sunken city, about a dark pact, about the s
ecret power of elves... 

For years, he studied the Arcanes, hunting for traces of the city, as he w
as convinced that the lost wisdom of the elves of Vkovzerov would give him
 a great power. And, finally, after 20 long years of searching, he conclud
ed that the secret was in the area now called "Lake Country".

And there, he came, and there was a small house made of wood, and there wa
s a tree, and there was a young elvish woman, dreaming at the stars, under
 the tree. And Butakis fell in love, and the elvish lady fell in love, and
 they both watched the stars. But soon, Butakis felt the need of getting b
ack into action, and finding the lost city and getting its power.

The lady told him: "The true wisdom is in those stars, and in that tree, a
nd in that house you see. You'll only find unrest by aiming for more."

But Butakis had already made up his mind, and he brought back engineers, a
nd sappers, and miners, and they all worked to build a huge machine to pum
p the water, and discover the city. During ten years, Butakis worked on th
is, hoping that in the end, the elvish lady would be at his side, and that
 she would be his wife, princess of the restored city.

During all the work, he was perpetually annoyed by a small group of bandit
s, lead by Twak the Red Fox. Twak and his men conducted a real guerilla wa
r against Butakis, as they saw him as a danger for the whole country, beca
use his plans were damaging nature and could also have awaken dark power s
leeping in the sunken city. Several times, they sabotaged the machine, sto
le tools, raped engineers and designers. But each time, Butakis and his fo
llowers repaired the machines, engaged new people, and increased security.

And now, ten years after the beginning, the work was completed, and he inv
ited the elvish lady to come and see the acomplishment of a lifelong dream
.

The Elvish lady came, as beautiful as ever. And on the balcony at the top 
of the pump, they watched the stars, and she kissed him, and she when they
 were in the bed he had prepared for that very special night before the pu
mping started, she whispered at his ear.

That, Butakis had waited for long, but he didn't expect what she told him 
then.

"Ten years you were away, and ten years I watched the stars with Twak. And
 now for him, and for he choose me and my heart, I'll disappear, and so do
es your dream."

Butakis understood that he had been fooled, that she only kept her attenti
on away enough for Twak and three of his faithful men to sabotage the pump
. And so came a great rumble from the basis of the huge building, and so t
he huge engines exploded, and so was his dream reduced to smoke, smoke tha
t still covers most of Lake Country nowadays.

The Elvish lady probably died, as nobody saw her again after that. And so 
did the brave Twak, but his spirit survived in the wind - or so say some p
eople.

Butakis, so strange as it may look, managed to survive, although in bad sh
ape, as one would expect. Disfigured, he survived until now using black ma
gic or machines to keep him alive, and he tried to gather again men to res
tart his project. But it was now said all around that it was a doomed, bro
ken man - and so he in fact was Lake country was said to be haunted by Twa
k, and several travellers saw a young elvish lady, watching the stars at n
ight, under a tree, near the lake.

Nobody ever accepted to work on the foolish project again. Butakis now awa
its in his sinister castle, ruling a shattered kingdom lost in the fog his
 machine left behind. A tormented man, that is said to look in the directi
on of the lake from the highest tower of his castle, every night.

But for him never came again the Elvish girl, and forever his soul stays a
lone. And so ends what we know about Butakis and Twak, and so dies my stor
y.

IP-Address  : 81.243.85.182

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New Revision: http://wiki.metalforge.net/doku.php/the_tale_of_lord_butakis

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